They Came Back
by IlovetowriteSMP
Summary: Lucky lied when he said he went to Africa to help orphans. He joined the WSB to track down Emily. Pairings: Luckily and Jason/Georgie.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note**: _This fic is written for Kathy, who mentioned to me on Twitter that she missed these characters. The pairings are ones she enjoys: Lucky/Emily, Jason/Georgie._

**They Came Back**  
><strong>Part One<strong>  
><strong>October 2014<strong>

"Are they alive?!" Just like that, as the hoarse, desperate words fell from his lips, he forgot his resolve to stay calm today, no matter what.

Years of searching, praying, gun battles and knife fights, going half insane and fighting his own demons that told him to go all the way, fall back into the bottle and pills, had all led him to this very moment. He had dedicated his life to this pursuit and he wouldn't apologize for that. He would have died if he did anything else- if he had turned his back on her in her greatest moment of need.

He had given up his kids in order to find her. Changed his whole life to be the man who might bring her home. But maybe all he would find was a frozen corpse. He had known all along it could end that way.

Known he was giving up time he couldn't ever get back with his sons for just the slightest chance he could get her back- dead or alive.

Three and a half years of searching, and it all ended in five minutes. The WSB had surrounded the clinic. Kicked down doors. Took down anyone in their way. Through the smoke of the flash grenades, Agent Lucky Spencer walked into the cryogenic lab where the bodies were being stored, still not knowing if any of them would be able to be revived.

If she was alive or dead.

"Talk to me!" he yelled at the other agent, the one who held a medical degree and used to be a doctor in his old life.

"They're alive," he said. "They're all alive."

Lucky rocked back on his heels, air escaping his lungs with a whoosh. He placed his hand on the cold glass that surrounded the body of his best friend, his full focus on her and not the other bodies under similar glass next to her.

Yes, he wanted to bring them home to their families, too, but this had always been about her. Always been about Emily.

XXXXXXXXX

The first few moments of consciousness were experienced in that freezing lab, as they were all brought out of their cryogenic states.

Not knowing where she was, or what was happening, the one thing Georgie did see was Jason Morgan a few feet away, laying on a gurney like the one she was on- skin pale, lips blue and looking just as confused she felt.

"What...happened?" he choked out, trying to sit up.

"Just stay still," someone told him, forcing him back down. "Any sudden movement could cause a heart attack."

"Get...off...me!" He tried to get up again.

The fear in the air was palpable. All around them were people with weapons.A brief memory assaulted her senses...someone trying to kill her...but it was all too foggy to figure out who or when. All she felt was the same danger as right now.

And all she knew was that she didn't want to die. Or watch anyone else die.

"Jason," she croaked out. "Please..."

He turned his head and their eyes connected. She watched him take in the fact that she was there, and then he seemed to relax some.

Georgie didn't even have the strength to sit up but she heard a voice from behind her say "Jason, you're safe now."

She knew that voice. It was Lucky Spencer. Whatever happened, Mac must have sent Lucky to save her.

She was safe now. She was going home. With that thought, she closed her eyes.

"She's crashing!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Georgie!" Emily could barely get out that single words, as she was held in Lucky's arms, shivering and without the strength to hold herself upright.

"Shhhh. Don't look." He stroked her hair and turned her face into his neck, holding her even tighter.

She knew she was safe. Lucky had her and he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. But how had she gotten here? How had they all ended up here?

Before Lucky had averted her gaze she had seen five gurneys with five people on them: her own brother, Jason, and next to him Georgie then Leticia- who had been the nanny for her nephew Michael since he was born- and finally Stavros and Stefan Cassadine.

Emily made six. Six people in a freezing lab, barely clinging to life. What the hell had happened to her? The last thing she remembered was her engagement party.

She had been so happy that night. Nikolas must be frantic to find her. Her heart ached for what he had to go through while she was here.

How long had it been? A week? A month? How long had she lived like this?

XXXXXXXX

The hospital buzzed with shock and excitement when they were all wheeled in, under heavy WSB protection and police escort. Word had come from the ambulance that they had six incoming, all in critical condition, all presumed dead Port Charles residents.

Elizabeth had dropped to her knees at the news. It couldn't be. Emily was still alive?

By the time they were wheeled in, Liz had regained her composer but she nearly lost it again when she saw who was holding Emily's hand as they wheeled the gurney toward an exam room.

The ambulance drivers were shouting out vital statistics on the patients but Liz was in too much shock to do anything but grab Lucky's arm as he passed her.

"Lucky! What do you have to do with this?"

"Save her! Please, you have to save her!"

Emily lay there, unconscious, but very much still alive. Liz could only be grateful to have this chance to save the friend that she had been sure she lost so many years ago...but how was the husband she had lost involved in bringing Emily back?

Lucky had sworn he was in Africa taking care of orphans.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"I lied," Lucky confessed to Nikolas, as they stood in the waiting area of the emergency room. At first Nikolas had been in shock and then elated at the news of Emily's return...until he asked how Lucky was involved.

Not holding back any of the truth= the time for lies was over now- Lucky went on "I never went to Africa to help orphans. Helena sent me a video tape showing Emily in a cryogenic chamber and I left Port Charles to search for her. It was a cat and mouse game. I never knew if I'd find her...if Helena was just torturing me...but I had to keep searching. I had to try."

"Why didn't you tell me? She was my fiance! I could have helped you!"

"You were barely holding on at some points. This...it nearly killed me...I didn't want it to drive you mad."

"You had no right to decide for me. I loved her and if she was out there, needing me, I should have been informed."

"It was my call and I made it."

Nikolas jerked his eyes off his brother and turned to catch a glimpse of Emily through the curtain in the exam cubicle, as the doctors frantically worked on her.

"My God, Emily is alive."

"Barely." Lucky turned away, running his fingers through his hair as tears came to his eyes. Emily had crashed, just like Georgie did earlier, in the ambulance.

Had he gotten there too late?


	2. Chapter 2

**Note**:_ I want to keep this story very short. This chapter is set three months after the last one_.

**They Came Back**  
><strong>Part Two<strong>  
><strong>December 2014<strong>

"My name is Emily and I'm an addict."

"Hello, Emily," the rest of the people at Narcotics Anonymous meeting said.

"I have three days clean," she said. "And they've been hard days. I want to use so bad. Even though I know it could cost me my medical license, the respect of my family and friends and every penny I have. I could use today and the next time I look up I'm a junkie living in a pay by the hour hotel doing whatever it takes to get my next fix. That might sound ridiculous, you all know the family I come from, but I've seen it happen before...and I'm not special. I'm an addict and I'm afraid I'm going to use again. Thank you for listening."

"Thank you for sharing, Emily."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Drop him off by ten tomorrow morning." Liz told Lucky when she left Aidan at his apartment for a visit. "We're having brunch with Gram and then Cameron has a basketball game. And I need to get the boys new shoes. They grew out of them again."

Lucky pulled out his wallet. "Let me help-"

"Keep your money. It was never your money that the boys and I needed most from you."

She still hadn't forgiven him for all the years he spent chasing Emily around instead of being there to help her with the boys and maybe she never would. Cameron hadn't either- which hurt more. Lucky didn't blame them though. He would be the last person to ask for forgiveness or expect to receive it after abandoning his kids. He hated himself for that.

He would have hated himself even more if he had gone on with his life, as if there was nothing he could have done to save Emily. He had made a choice- the only one he could with any hope of still being able to live with himself afterwards.

No one had promised him that the living would be easy, though.

XXXXXXXXXX

Seven years. She lost seven years of her life.

No, they were not lost, she corrected her thinking as bitterness rose up in her body right on schedule, the way it did each and every time she thought about it. Her life had not been lost, like some misplaced piece of luggage.

Her life had been stolen. Seven years stolen. One moment she was nineteen, the next twenty-six, with nothing to show for it but lost time. And lost drive. Motivation.

She was supposed to start school again in January. She should be studying right now, refreshing her skills, reviving her sluggish brain, but instead she was spending all day on the internet: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr.

There were many ways to waste a day away.

Some well meaning people had told her to really live it up now, since she had this second chance at life, and she appreciated the sentiment but what did they know, really? Did they understand what it felt like to walk in Kelly's Diner and have every eye fall on you, hear their whispered conversations, as they point and stare at the living dead girl?

Could they even fathom what it felt like to be her? If not then she didn't need their advice. Only six people had been in that lab. Only six people knew what it felt like to wake up alive after years of being not quite alive and not quite dead.

Only they knew. Only they could help her.

She clicked off of Facebook and pulled up the video she watched at least once every day, cuing up the part she watched the most.

It was an interrogation tape from when Helena was interviewed by the WSB in the Port Charles Police Station. Spinelli had hacked into their security system there and gotten it for her.

She had to know why this happened to her. The real reason. Not the whitewashed official story for the papers.

Helena said "I may as well enlighten you since I fear no prosecution-"

"You're finished, you psychotic, old bitch," Lucky Spencer told her, before another officer placed a hand on his shoulder, silently warning him to quiet down and let the suspect speak.

" I assure you that is far from the truth. I will be dining on my yacht this evening with my manservant-"

Georgie fast forwarded until she got to the part where Helena said "Leverage. They were simply leverage. To own Nikolas' simpering fiance, was to own him. To own the commisoner's daughter the same. And the nanny girl, she was more of a mother to Sonny Corinthos children than Carly could ever have hoped to be. Though I did almost acquire Carly also before deciding she was not worth the trouble. It was never personal, so, dear Lucky, don't make this into another round in our family's tiresome blood feud."

Georgie slammed her hand down on her desk, shaking the dusty books that she had unpacked from the attic. Quickly getting to her feet, she grabbed her winter coat and headed downstairs.

The house was decorated for the holidays. Her mother had done that. Georgie remembered the days when Felicia was no where to be found and decorating- along with cooking, cleaning, walking the dog and keeping track of Maxie- had all fallen on her.

But now someone else did all the things she used to do. They managed without her. It was almost like she wasn't really needed in her own life anymore.

Her life didn't really exist anymore. She needed to see someone who knew what that felt like- and she needed it right now, before she went out of her mind.

XXXXXXX

"Boss," the guard at the door said "It's Miss Jones for you."

"Let her in."

Jason sat back in his chair, rolling his neck on his shoulders. His body always seemed stiff now. He worked out, did his physical therapy for hours on end and he had regained all the muscle mass he lost while...out...but still he didn't feel like the man he used to be.

Older. Stiffer. Not as quick. He tried to not let it show. What else could he do? Sonny was locked up. Johnny Zacharra went down for a bid too. The territory was Jason's to do with as he saw fit.

Sometimes he just wanted to walk away from it all. Move to an island. Change his name again. But he couldn't. He had a son now- Danny. And even if he wasn't married to Sam anymore, he had to stay and raise his son. Stay in this life that fit like a shrunken coat. Or a straight jacket.

His life didn't feel like the same one he was snatched out of two years ago. He hadn't been kept as long as the rest of them- but the damage was just as complete.

Georgie came through the door, looking frazzled. "I'm sorry to keep showing up like this-"

He stood. "It's fine. Want to go on a walk? I could use the air."

"Sure."

They left the restaurant and walked down the tree lined street, hugging their jackets tight to themselves against the frigid temps. It was cold but nice to be outside. Free.

His guards were nearby, just in case. But he didn't think either him or Georgie were scared of catching a stray bullet in a drive by.

They had faced down death. It didn't frighten either of them anymore. They had talked often about the feelings they were going through now. He appreciated that she came to him because he wasn't the type who would have ever sought out her to confide in.

He wouldn't want to lay his burden on her young shoulders. But it felt good to talk to it all. Good to know someone understood.

"It's almost Christmas," Georgie said, looking at the festive decorations surrounding them. "I just can't feel it though."

"I'm working through Christmas."

"Maybe I'll bring you cookies."

"I'd like that."


	3. Chapter 3

**They Came Back**  
><strong>Part Three<strong>  
><strong>February 2015<strong>

"Moving in the middle of winter," Emily muttered as she carried a box while walking over snow covered sidewalks "remind me to never do this again."

"Remind me to hire movers next time," Lucky said. "My aching back!"

"Oh, stop it. You're making yourself sound ancient."

"I'm an old, frail man now. Once I hit thirty, I fell to pieces. Everything went, just like that." He snapped his fingers.

She burst into giggles. He loved hearing that sound. He lived for it. The last few months had been hard on her but she seemed to be rallying lately- hence the move into a house of her own, her first.

A fresh start. She felt it was time. He couldn't agree more. Seeing her take back her life, it made all the pain, loss and heartbreak worth it.

He had given up his life, just to give her back hers, and he would never regret that he did. What good was a best friend if not to come get you out of that dark, cold place you couldn't get out of alone?

That was the kind of friend Emily had always been to him, and the kind he would always strive to be for her.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I know it's crazy. I can't believe I did it..." Georgie confessed her secret to Jason.

"Do you regret it?"

"Not yet."

"Good."

"You told me to wait until I was sure and I should have listened, I know that. The settlement from the Cassadine family was supposed to be fund my education, not make me an unwed mother but-"

"You did what felt right. You don't have to explain it to me."

"I'm pregnant by a sperm donor and for the first time since we woke up, I finally feel like I have a reason to get out of bed tomorrow. A reason to make a life for myself again. Danny keeps you going, right?"

"You didn't do this because I told you that, did you?"

"No. Maybe. I don't know. I am not sure of anything anymore, except that I'll be twenty seven next month and I didn't spend my twenties going to school, starting a career, dating and having fun, meeting a guy I could marry and have a kid with, I spent it unconscious. It's gone and I can't do a damn thing about that. But I can find a reason to go on: my baby is my life now."

He put his hand on top of hers, as they sat on the park bench. She leaned against his side, turned her hand over and held his hand.

They leaned on each other, so neither one would break under the weight of a past that left them with no way to get back all the time it had stolen away.

XXXXXXXX

It was crazy. It was reckless. Something Georgie Jones would have never done before.

But she wasn't that girl from before now. At least she wasn't just that girl. She hadn't lived a moment of those seven years that she spent in deep freeze, and yet they changed her in ways she as still trying to understand.

Made her angrier, made her bitter, made her desperate for anything that could take the anger and bitterness away. Her sister seemed so happy with baby Georgie. And Jason lit up around Danny. Lucky was like a changed man whenever he was around Aidan.

Spinelli was such a cute Daddy to her niece. Lulu and Dante adored their little Rocco.

Everywhere Georgie looked people were filled with joy over their children. She ached for that for herself. And she didn't want to wait for some guy to come along who would put a ring on her finger and make promises he might break anyway.

She might not have seven more years of life to waste. So she did it on her own. And to hell with anyone who judged her for it. The only person she would answer to was her baby when he or she asked: why don't I have a Daddy?

She knew it was selfish to bring a baby into the world without a father but some days she thought she would die (kill herself so she didn't have to face living without meaning anymore), and the moment she decided to have a baby that feeling had disappeared.

This baby was saving her life. She did what she had to do in order to survive.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Oh, God, this feels like heaven," Lucky said, as he lay down on Emily's couch.

"Thank you for all your help today. The pizza should be here in twenty minutes. You work cheap."

"Pizza and soda. I'll strike if I don't get my soda."

She giggled. She had been laughing more today that in all the months since she came home. At first there had been nothing to laugh about: her body fought back from it's weakened state, she faced physical therapy and psychological examinations. She had learned that Nikolas was living with someone else now and that her grandfather was dead.

It took months to feel like she wasn't in some kind of living nightmare.

The worst guilt came when she found out that Lucky had left Port Charles for over three years in order to look for her. He had missed the majority of Aidan's life, and grew distant from Cameron. Jake-poor, sweet baby Jake- was dead because Luke drove drunk. Yet Luke was still drinking and no one seemed to be pissed about it. Michael had spent more than a year in a coma and time in prison after that. Morgan had gone away to boarding school and come home a grown man. Brook Lynn and Dillon were no longer teenagers. They had amazing careers of their own now.

Everyone and everything had moved on. But Emily.

Finally, today, she was staking her claim on a new piece of life to call her own, in this home, with her best friend by her side.

"Thank you for everything, Lucky. Thank you for coming-"

"You never have to say that again," he gently whispered. Their eyes held. "You know I wouldn't have it any other way but to be the one who comes for you."

A smile graced her lips. It felt good to smile for real again- after months of barely being able to force a fake one.

She was grateful to have something to smile about. Grateful to have this home. To have her best friend with her, supporting her every step of the way.

Things with Nikolas were a mess but Emily was not about to sit around and wait for him to figure out which fiancee to keep his commitment to. No, she was moving on.

And moving on started now.


	4. Chapter 4

**They Came Back**  
><strong>Part Four<strong>  
><strong>May 2015<strong>

"Tell me the truth," Carly said to Jason, as they sat on her couch, "are you in love with her?"

"She's a good friend. I don't look at her that way."

"I know when you're in love, Jason. I know you. You don't have to hide anything-"

"I'm just trying to hold on. That's all. Just hold on, Carly. Nothing more."

She cuddled against his side. He wrapped his arm around her. They stayed like that for a long while. She was thrilled he was still alive. He was glad to be able to be here for her, for Danny, for Michael, Morgan and Joss. But he couldn't live for just them.

Where was his own life now?

Sam had ended things with Patrick but she admitted to Jason she was still in love with Patrick. The life that her and Jason were supposed to have together was wrecked into so many jagged pieces he didn't think they could find them all to put it back together again, another time.

He wanted to make it good with Sam again. He wanted his family. But the only time he felt truly at peace was when he was taking a walk with Georgie.

Carly knew him. She knew what he wouldn't admit to even himself. He was falling in love- and it was not with his wife.

XXXXXXXXX

"Thank you for being here tonight," Emily told Lucky, at the opening of the AJ Quartermaine Community Clinic.

"No where else I'd rather be."

He said all the right words, but something in his eyes was different tonight.

"Are you feeling okay?"

He kissed her cheek. "Never felt better. Now shouldn't you be mingling? Time to raise that money to keep the doors open."

She smiled. "Who can say no to the formerly presumed dead girl?"

He chuckled.

It felt good to make a joke about it finally. Good to be alive again. Emily had worried she wouldn't get to this place. She knew Jason was still struggling, Leticia too and she expected to be struggling right alongside them both, but she had turned a corner somewhere around when winter gave way to spring.

She had chosen life over being one of the walking dead. And she was never looking back again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Georgie had taken her last final of the semester that day. She was exhausted from staying up late studying for several nights in a row. The fact that she was three months pregnant also added to her exhaustion level.

She heard that woman got a boost of renewed energy in the second trimester and she prayed it was true, because it was all she could do to drag her weary body home and into bed that day.

She never went back to working at the diner. Way too many eyes staring at her there. She couldn't handle all the questions, stares and whispers. She was living off the settlement that Nikolas gave her, even though it was depleted greatly after the secret in-vitro procedure.

Her parents were worried about her. They wanted her to go back to therapy. But she was twenty-seven years old now, not the teenager they remembered before she was kidnapped, and there was nothing they could do to compel her to follow their wishes.

She used to do things to make other people happy. Now she was living just for herself and her baby.

As she drifted off to sleep, her mind whispered to her: _And Jason. You're living for Jason, too_.

But she couldn't do that. He was married. She had other friends to rely on. She had her family. She had her baby.

Jason, though, he gave her what no one else could: a soft place to fall when the ground was rushing up hard and unforgiving.

He gave her peace. Only Jason and her baby did that for her these days. So she hung onto both, even if it wasn't the most prudent thing to do to become a single mother and befriend a mob boss.

She was fighting for her life- and nothing was off limits anymore.

XXXXXXXXX

Lucky got out of his car, walked around and opened the door for Emily. He offered her his arm as he walked her up to her doorstep.

"Come in for a while?" she asked

"Em..."

"What is it? I knew something was bothering you tonight."

"I'm leaving town for a while- on a job."

He watched her stiffen and move back from him in one swift motion. "You're leaving?"

Me. The word hung in the air between them. You're leaving me, is what she really meant. She had come to count on him. So had Aidan.

No one should count on Lucky though. Not anymore.

"I have no choice. I made deals, before, and I have to honor them now."

"Deals? What kind of deals? When?"

"To help Ethan out, while you were gone" A lie but he couldn't tell her it was to get her back. That he had begged, borrowed, stole and promised anyone who could help him anything they wanted.

And these were not the kind of people you broke promises to.

"Is it dangerous? What am I saying? You work for the WSB, of course it's dangerous. Lucky...you have to come back."

He took her hands in his, hands he had been holding since he was a kid. "I will come back. Count on it."

She wrapped her arms around him and they held each other tight. He remembered how hard he had prayed for the chance to hold her again. And now he could anytime he wanted. And now he was walking away from that chance because of a job he had never wanted to take, didn't want to keep.

He joined the WSB to find Emily. He was still in it because they didn't let you just walk away.

Now they owned him for life. He had seen how that worked out for Frisco. He wasn't sure he had much hope he'd fare any better. But he wouldn't feel sorry for himself. She had made it home. It was a fair trade.


	5. Chapter 5

**They Came Back**  
><strong>Part Five<strong>  
><strong>July 2015<strong>

"It was never a choice!" Nikolas yelled at Emily, as they stood on the bluffs. "It's always been you!"

He had invited her out there for a romantic surprise picnic but she was long past the point of caring- since he spent so long saying he couldn't leave Britt because she was fragile.

The girl had a breakdown just as soon as Emily got back to town. Plenty of people told Emily it was all an act, and maybe it was. Of course Nikolas had to see Britt through it.

Emily understood, but she couldn't pretend her heart hadn't broke to watch them together, and she couldn't pretend that she wanted to be at this picnic with him, either. Life was too short to live a lie.

"It's not you anymore, Nikolas, not for me."

He pulled her close. "Tell me that after I kiss you."

She let him kiss her one last time. "It's not you. I'm sorry."

Stunned, he let her go. "Who is it?"

She turned away.

"Oh no, Emily..." He knew. Of course, he knew. He had always known that if there was one guy who could take her away, that guy would be his own brother.

But Nikolas hadn't thought it would ever happen. Emily and him, they were forever, soulmates.

Only forever had ended in November of 2007. And now they were in the time after forever, where anything was possible.

He had dreamed she would come back to him, night after night for years after her death. Only the dreams never ended like this.

XXXXXXXXX

"You don't have to cook for me."

"I like cooking and you need to eat for the baby."

"Thank you, Jason."

"You're welcome, Georgie."

They made the meal together and sat down to eat, in his restaurant. Things between them were always so relaxed and easy. They came from different worlds but they shared something that had bonded them for life.

"Will you be the Godfather of my baby?"

"My life comes with too many threats-"

"I know but neither me or my baby want to live in a bubble of protection. We want to live...live the only life worth living...one with the people we care the most about."

He looked down. "I can't let you invest in me anymore than you have." Looking up his sad eyes met hers. "I was going to wait to tell you...after the baby came..."

"Tell me what? You don't want to be friends anymore?"

"I want out of the business but until I am...you should stay away."

"You made the choice to push Liz and Jake away, and you said you regretted that. Are you going to repeat the same mistake with me and my baby? I know we mean something to you, Jason, and you mean everything to us."

She got up and walked around the table, sitting on his lap. "Let us stay. It's my risk to take."

A risk she never would have imagined begging for years ago, but now she was a woman who grabbed onto everything she could to make life worth living because, all too often, it was short, brutal and painful, unless you fought with all you had to make it otherwise.

Jason was a good man that made her feel safe. She knew he'd do the same for her baby. He'd make them both happy. Without him- without the way he calmed her down when she was drifting back to that dark place of nothingness that Helena Cassadine had trapped them in- she'd sink back into that ugly, black hole that had almost swallowed her whole when she first came home. She finally understood why some women made the choices they did in life...it made sense, after everything else stopped making sense in the world, to choose love over anything and everything else.

Even safety.

"Jason, let us stay with you.' She leaned her forehead against his.

"I'm getting out, I promise."

"Good." Their lips met in their first kiss and it felt more right than anything else she had ever known.

XXXXXXXX

Jason couldn't believe he had let this happen- let himself fall for Georgie Jones. But when nothing else in his life had been going right, taking walks with her soothed his battered soul.

He knew he didn't deserve an angel like her. She was sweet, kind, giving, loyal and faithful to those she loved. And she loved him. She hadn't said it yet but he could see it every time she looked at him, feel it in every touch.

That is why he had to get out of the mob. This time for good. Whatever it took, by the time the baby came they would all be safe. He'd love them as long as God let him stay on this earth. Be as good to them as he could. And, maybe, just maybe he would be enough to keep Georgie happy.

She deserved to never lose that smile. Jason intended to make sure she didn't. She was putting all her faith in him, not asking him to change a thing, and he was going to change it all for her anyway.

For the life they could have together.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Emily," Lucky spoke to the computer screen.

"Where are you?"

It was the first time they had chatted on Skype since he left two months before. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, Lucky."

"Are you keeping busy?"

"The clinic is running me ragged but I love it. We're starting a program to get teenagers protection to cut down on unwanted pregnancies, and also we got a grant for mammograms so we can offer them free to low income women. I love seeing our work make a real difference in people's lives...I miss you. Did I already say that? And where are you? You never answered. Don't think that slipped by me."

He looked like he was in a car but she couldn't tell anything else.

He chuckled. "Come outside."

"Why?" Her face lit up when she realized what he was saying. "You're here?!"

Emily ran out of the door of her house and found Lucky leaning against his car. She threw herself in his arms.

He hugged her for a long minute. "It's good to be home."

She gave him a quick peck on the lips. His eyes went wide.

She giggled. "I swore to myself I would not let one minute go by without doing that the next time I saw you." She stepped back. "Awkward, huh?"

He pulled her into another kiss. "Awkward, my ass."

Their lips molded together. He threaded his fingers in her hair. She clung to him like a lifeline, which he was. He always had been.

Lucky had tried several times to take them from best friends to lovers but Emily always giggled and brushed him off. As they broke apart this time, she wasn't giggling anymore.

"Come in for a while?"

This time his answer was a smile, as he took her hand and they headed into the house, into a future that finally looked bright again.

He had searched the world for her, risked it all for the slightest chance she may survive and get her life back. There had never been a question, from the moment he saw the video that Helena sent him, what he would do.

He was always going to go find Emily and bring her home. Always. Or die trying.

**THE END**


End file.
